Your Right to Know

By Kirk SempleTHE NEW YORK TIMES • Wednesday February 27, 2013 6:50 AM

In a highly unusual move, federal immigration officials have released hundreds of detainees from
immigration detention centers across the country in an effort to save money as automatic budget
cuts loom in Washington, officials said yesterday.

The government has not dropped the deportation cases against the immigrants, however. The
detainees have been freed on supervised release while their cases continue in court, officials
said.

Although administration officials did not explain how they selected detainees for release, they
suggested that the population did not include immigrants who were the focus of the administration’s
stated enforcement priorities, including those convicted of serious crimes.

“Priority for detention remains on serious criminal offenders and other individuals who pose a
significant threat to public safety,” said Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

The releases, which began several days ago and continued yesterday, were intended “to make the
best use of our limited detention resources in the current fiscal climate,” Christensen said.

The agency, Christensen added, “is continuing to prosecute their cases in immigration court and,
when ordered, will seek their removal from the country.”

Officials did not reveal how many detainees were released or where the releases took place, but
immigrant advocates across the country have been reporting that hundreds of detainees were freed in
numerous locations.

Under supervised release, defendants in immigration cases have to adhere to a strict reporting
schedule that might include attending appointments at their regional Immigration and Customs
Enforcement office as well as telephone and electronic monitoring, officials said.